There is a need for a new class of intelligent appliances, referred in here as intelligent personal health management appliances, that enable the individual to personally acquire one or more types of biological information in real time, archive said information for correlation with factors such as diet and other activities including physical exercise/mental activity/stress and other factors, for personal health management by the individual him/her self or for personal health management in conjunction with a qualified health professional. The present invention teaches novel methods and novel appliances for real time data acquisition of biological information, for archiving said data for contemporaneous utility or for utility at a selected time, for analyzing said data, for determining trends, for communication of said data/trends to one or more health professionals and for comprehensive real time management of the personal health of an individual in a cost effective manner in accordance with the quality/cost objectives acceptable to the individual.
Specifically, the present invention relates to intelligent appliances for monitoring the blood sugar level of an individual for management of diabetes and related health factors. The incidence of both adult diabetes and pediatric/juvenile diabetes is increasingly rapidly in most populations as a result of improper diet and lack of exercise. The blood glucose level is a proven indicator for measuring the level of diabetes. The level of blood glucose in the blood stream is well co-relatable with the ingestion of various foods, the time from the ingestion of various foods, the frequency and amount of ingestion of different foods; and also the level of physical activity.
While genetics plays a role in determining whether an individual has a high probability for being afflicted with diabetes, the onset of diabetes and the severity of diabetes are controllable by following certain norms of controllable behavior. Neglecting to diagnose, treat and control diabetes may lead to nerve disease, kidney disease, retinal eye disease and in some cases loss of limbs such as toes.
The healthy human body actively controls the level of blood glucose levels by regulating the amount of insulin production, wherein the insulin is generated by the pancreas. The treatment of diabetes requires that the level of insulin within the body is monitored and managed actively by helping the pancreas generate proper levels of insulin internal to the human body or providing controlled amounts of insulin delivered in a programmed manner from external sources, in conjunction with the ingestion of food/dietary habits that is best suited to a specific individual.
Therefore, there is a need for blood glucose monitoring appliances and also for insulin delivery appliances to regulate the blood glucose level within the human body. The prior art equipment/devices for monitoring blood glucose levels and or delivery of insulin from sources external of the body, such as through a catheter inserted into the fatty tissue of the body, suffer from a number of limitations which include; inability to automate, inability for real time measurement and tracking, inability for measurement and delivery on the move, inability for continuous or programmed delivery of insulin in a manner specific to the individual, in ability to relate diet and exercise in real time to the levels of blood glucose in the body and the external augmentation from insulin sources external to the human body, lack of real time access to computational, communication and command capabilities using a mobile device and the software and databases resident therein, lack of real time access to remote servers and other devices by wired or wireless means to leverage the processing, storage, database and information capabilities resident therein; and other limitations.
The drug delivery including insulin delivery pumps of the prior art are not intelligent and suffer from a number of limitations including inability to wirelessly communicate and relate the drug delivery needs of the body with a number of other factors such as the ingestion of food and physical activity for comprehensive real time control.
Additionally, the non invasive methods of the prior art such as inhalation devices and skin patches are passive methods with no command and control capabilities and of course also lack the communication capabilities with information sources and servers external of the inhalation device, skin patch and other devices thus rendering the delivery of the drug in accurate and independent of valuable collateral information such as the ingestion of food and physical activity. In addition, the prior art does not teach intelligent active skin patch drug delivery systems or intelligent inhalation devices for drug delivery in a controlled and safe manner in conjunction with a host of other relevant information including other health risk factors and gastronomic information.
The prior art additionally does not teach intelligent pain management appliances that can deliver drugs for pain management through catheter means, deliver drugs through skin patch means including delivery through intelligent active skin patches that control drug delivery by stimulating the skin with mechanical, electrical, ultrasound and other means, and do not teach the means for pain management in conjunction with simply providing external stimuli such as electrical pulses/shock and other methods without an associated drug delivery by skin patch or catheter means and further do not teach the means for communication, command and control of intelligent pain management appliances applied at one or more locations of an organ or body locations. The present disclosure teaches the means for pain management by using intelligent pain management appliances that have wired or wireless communication capabilities with a mobile device and one or more servers. The present disclosure also teaches the adaptation of the intelligent skin patches that deliver drugs for different types of pain management applications in a standalone manner or in conjunction with a wearable mobile device including a cellular telephone mobile device.
The present disclosure with specific references to diabetes, blood glucose levels and insulin and the measurement, monitoring and delivery systems thereof is intended to cover a broad range of a number of other health problems and other drugs and is not to be construed as being limited to the specific applications disclosed herein.